The late afternoon sun lit up the profiles of those attending the annual Take Back the Night speak-out and rally Thursday night.

The crowd of about 200 people — including about 40 men — seemed expectant as the speeches began, but as the sun went down, the mood changed. Smiles flattened to straight faces and the crowd took on a much more solemn mood.

Feeling anger is nothing to be ashamed of, said Lynette Ward, of ACCESS. Womens’ lives are in danger every day, and people need to get angry and get active, not violent, she said.

“We can’t forget who we are taking the night back from and who took it from us,” Ward said.

A continuing theme throughout the rally was empowerment and the need to look at violence against women as not a women’s issue, but a men’s issue, because in the majority of cases, men are the perpetrators.

“Those with the power to stop the violence against women are those who commit it,” Ward said. Rape on campus is not something that can be ignored, she said. Ward said recent statistics showed that 15 percent of all women on campus are raped every year.

Madeleine Henry, chairwoman of classical studies at ISU, and keynote speaker for the event, said she was also angry about violence committed against women. Women living in fear of being assaulted or raped pick up defensive behaviors that limit their lives, she pointed out. She said she thought violence against women was a form of terrorism and should be looked at as a war. “Until we are all free, none of us will be free,” she said.

A survivor of rape, who only identified herself as Kelly stood before the crowd with composure and told her story of survival. She spoke of all the tears she had cried and how she felt her life had been destroyed. Learning to say no and understanding its only meaning is crucial she said.

“When a woman says no when you’re forcing sex upon her, it means no. It doesn’t matter what language you speak,” she said. The participants each held a lit candle and marched, accompanied by the ISU drum line. The march crossed Lincoln Way, went though the greek neighborhoods, through Campustown and along the outskirts of campus.

Traffic came to a stand-still, blocked off by the Ames police department, while the rally members crossed streets. People came out of businesses and their homes to watch the marchers. Chants of, “Join together free our lives, we will not be victimized,” and “Two, four, six, eight, violence we won’t tolerate,” could be heard drifting back through the line of marchers that at times stretched almost a block long. The march lasted about 45 minutes.

At the end of the march the participants gathered at the Campanile again, blew out their candles and went their separate ways through the darkness. The night had taken back the day.